Notley proving to be an efficient manager

Ben Eisen and Steve Lafleur’s comparison of Rachel Notely to Bob Rae is fundamentally flawed because neither Ontario nor Saskatchewan are a boom and bust, resource-dependent economy like Alberta.

Therefore, Notely’s choice to follow former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge’s advice and build during a recession is creating a much greater 10-year value proposition for the taxpayer than any interest service savings would ever do.

The Tories’ poor financial outcomes proved this when they paid off the debt in the early 2000s, but making up the resulting infrastructure deficit during boom times resulted in a deficit which they failed to reduce in five years of trying.

Surprisingly, Notely is proving to be a more astute boom-and-bust economy manager than her political competitors, despite the Fraser Institute’s short term and superficial analysis.

Equalization payments keep Quebec afloat

It is infuriating to read of Quebec’s projected $1.3-billion budget surplus and tax breaks to its citizens.

Yes, give Quebec its due. But truth is, they haven’t done this budgeting miracle, cooking of the books, all on their own, or in decades.

Thank you to Don Braid for keeping the farce and unfairness of provincial equalization payments on the front burner of national/local commentary, and how the West is kept financially subservient, unequal and beholden to eastern power interests.

When more than 70 per cent of equalization transfers go to Quebec and Ontario (have-not provinces?) and 10 per cent or less goes to the three western provinces, most of us smell a rat. Newfoundland and Labrador also receive next to a zero share of transfer payments.

Calls for legitimate, fair and overdue changes to Canada’s equalization system have fallen on deaf ears.

As a third-generation Albertan, I am sick and tired of supporting subsidized daycare, college tuition and obscene budget surpluses for Quebec via an obnoxious/bogus equalization shell game.

The West deserves better than colony status.

Stewart Ford, Calgary

Trudeau silent on Lindhout’s plight

Re: “Ex-hostage still haunted by ordeal,” March 29.

I have been sending up a good word or 10 for Amanda Lindhout for peace, healing and justice as her ordeal continues to grind through the legal system. Nobody needs that on top of extended horrific abuse.

Does it strike anyone else as strange that our arch-feminist PM and his caucus haven’t said “boo” about this case? They can’t seem to shut up about any other Twitter cause du jour.

More progressive politics? Or is it just that Lindhout is not from Quebec?

Trudeau already has lost the battle of being there for all Canadians. Cannabis is the be-all-and-end-all.

The attestation of pro-choice, a tick in the box for student summer employment, is creating division with Canadians whose Charter of Rights and Freedoms are being ignored by our government.

Word oil prices had fallen, but yet Trudeau had nothing in his election bag to enhance Canadian welfare by aiding the plight of the Energy East pipeline. He cancelled the Northern Gateway pipeline — which was already approved — with no opposition from the Indigenous people who were for it.

Liberal spending is well into the red, when Canada has not seen a recession since Trudeau took office.

Joyce Conley, Calgary

Palestinian deaths were murder

Re: “Israel nixes inquiry call,” April 2.

I wonder how long can we continue to support Israel’s brutality, and still think of ourselves as moral and decent.

The people of Gaza are imprisoned. They cannot leave by land, sea or air, and are forced to live in squalid conditions without the basic necessities. This is not because of Hamas, but due entirely to Israel’s blockade.

If I were a young Palestinian with no hope for the future, perhaps I would also fire some ineffectual rockets, as a sign of resistance to oppression.

The protests of Easter weekend were not a threat to Israel; in fact, there is no realistic existential threat to Israel. The deaths of Palestinians were quite simply cold-blooded murder.

Mutual respect could lead to lasting peace

I was fascinated by the opinion expressed by Rev. John Pentland regarding his thoughts on the coincidence of April Fool’s Day and Easter Sunday.

He rightly points out all the foolishness about the Christian religion, albeit with some clever tongue in cheek. I would expand his remarks to all religions where each has their own “true God” and messiah.

The most violent wars in man’s short history have been over religious differences that continue to plague humankind.

Personally, I do not have a God or superior being to guide my life, but I certainly respect religious folks who find comfort in their particular choice of worship.

If that mutual respect existed across the planet, perhaps we could all live in peace and celebrate the natural human empathy, caring and love that so many religions advocate.

Dave Birkby, Calgary

Resolve Campaign is making a difference

Re: “Income support system falls short,” Letter, March 31.

Jake Kuiken points out the Alberta Income and Employment Supports Act requires people to have a private residence to receive assistance. The homeless have nothing.

Housing is the most expensive lifetime expense, especially rental housing, because it can span entire adult life. One thousand dollars per month rent will total $720,000 for 60 years to age 80, $840,000 for 70 years to age 90, and $960,000 for 80 years to age 100, with no wealth accumulation.

Charity and volunteering, while admirable, only provide temporary solutions to homelessness without fixing the underlying affordability problem.

The Resolve Campaign brings truth to power by providing permanent bricks and mortar solutions. One can only hope future efforts will continue to provide affordable housing, as well as upkeep of said housing. Bravo, Resolve!

Lin Gackle, Cochrane

A carbon tax for a cooling world

Re: “A sales tax in disguise,” Editorial, March 28.

Global warming ended in 2002, with a reversal to a global cooling trend, which means that when Jean Chrétien ratified Kyoto on Dec. 17, 2002, to stop global warming, global warming had already stopped.

This cooling trend was still in place in December 2011, when Stephen Harper pulled Canada out of Kyoto, saving Canadians billions in penalties for not meeting the impossible commitments Chrétien made when he ratified Kyoto nine years earlier.

The global cooling trend was still in place on May 5, 2015, when the NDP won the Alberta election.

But the start of the 2015/2016 el Niño had already temporarily ended the cooling trend when Trudeau foolishly signed the Paris Climate Agreement in April 2016.

After peaking in February 2016, the el Niño is now over, and with the precipitous drop in global temperature, the first three months of 2018 have now returned the global cooling trend, exposing NDP wilful ignorance in imposing their economically crippling carbon tax on the faulty basis of stopping global warming in a cooling world.

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If it wasn’t so darn important to our city, there’d be some degree of smug satisfaction with the awkward position in which both the premier and prime minister now find themselves embroiled in with this whole pipeline brouhaha.

The last time I chatted with Jack Tennant was April 17, just a random Tuesday.
The longtime
, who also wrote for the Calgary Herald on occasion, started our conversation with a self-deprecating joke — or a kind of “Tennant Tidbit” that he made famous at the end of many of his columns.